This study aims to investigate wheel/rail frictional interactions and wheel surface damage of heavy-haul locomotives due to overlarge braking effort and complex wheel/rail friction conditions, which has commonly been studied by using the Hertzian model in the past. Wheel/rail frictional interactions and wheel surface damage of heavy-haul locomotives are highly complicated due to overlarge braking effort and complex wheel/rail friction conditions, which has commonly been studied by using the Hertzian model.
A comprehensive heavy-haul train-track coupled dynamics model is built, in which an improved wheel/rail non-Hertzian contact algorithm considering the wheelset yaw angle is implemented. The locomotive wheel/rail frictional contact (including contact forces and stress and adhesion-slip distributions) and wheel/rail rolling contact fatigue with different braking efforts and friction conditions are discussed. The effect of anti-slip control threshold on which is also examined.
The results indicate that wheel/rail non-Hertzian contact is highly related to braking efforts and friction conditions. Wheel surface damage exhibits larger possibility to occur with a relatively high braking load, which is likely to be eliminated by frictional wear under low-adhesion conditions with a high anti-slip control threshold.
This investigation provides a theoretical understanding of wheel/rail frictional contact and fatigue damage with complex operation conditions.
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2024-0408/
